The invention which is the subject of this application relates to an item of furniture and particularly to an item of furniture in the form of a desk or table and, yet further, in relation to a desk or table which is required to be movable between an erected position for use and a collapsed, substantially flatter condition, for storage.
At the present time there are known several types of collapsible table, and reference hereinafter to table should be recognized as including a desk or any other similar form of furniture, which can be moved between an erected condition and a storage condition. One conventional and well-known type utilizes a main frame upon which the majority of the table top is based and, depending from said table top, there is provided at least one flap which is movable to a position in line with the table top so as to extend the size of same and is held in that position by a gate wing which is hingedly movable between a storage position and a position to lie under and support the flap in the same plane as the table top. In use, it is known that the gate wing portions can move during use thereby leaving the table top to be insecure and, the flap portions, if leaned on heavily, can lead to the table toppling over due to the fact that only one gate wing is supporting the flap portion. Furthermore, these flap portions are only provided to allow enlargement of the table tops and therefore the table is not truly collapsible to a size suitable for storage. For this reason, gate wing tables are not regarded as being an acceptable design for tables which are required to be stored in a substantially flattened condition as is required, for example, in office environments. Thus, there is a perceived need for collapsible tables and one known solution is to provide a table top with a plurality of location plates, typically provided at the corners of the table top and on the underside thereof, and with which are engagable table legs to provide a table in an erected condition and, when required to be in a storage condition, the table legs are disconnected and stored separately and in a disconnected form from the table top. This can lead to the legs being misplaced and/or the engagement means becoming worn through repeated use.
A further alternative is to provide a frame onto which the table top can be secured or placed and wherein said frame is collapsible to be stored along with the table top. Again however, the frame is required to be disconnected from the table top and stored separately from the table top and, when the tables are of larger size, the frame can become unmanageable and bulky. Thus, both of these known tables have the inconvenience of having separate parts required to be stored and this allows the possibility of table legs or frames being lost or misplaced from the table top. A further significant disadvantage is that the erection of these two types of table to an in-use form requires more than one person and also the table top is required to be moved and held on its side or upside down while the frame or legs are assembled and attached thereto. When a number of tables are required to be erected it can readily be seen that this is time consuming and inconvenient.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a table which is movable between an erected condition for use and a substantially flatter condition for storage and to provide a table in a manner so that the same can be erected by one person and that the various parts of the table are maintained in contact in, and between, both positions. A further aim is that the table is self standing when in a flattened or erected condition.